Light-valve projection technology has been proven to offer potential solution to high brightness and high resolution large screen display requirements. The liquid-crystal light-valves which are at the heart of these projection schemes inherently are used in the real time projection imaging at current 525 line vide rates. A capability of the liquid-crystal light-valves which is not appreciated generally is that they have the potential of achieving resolution of greater than 2,000 TV lines and have a photosensitivity of less than 50 .mu.W/cm.sup.2. The current use of these light valves has not taken advantage of their full utilization potential as an high definition or ultra-high resolution device because in some applications they are limited by the resolution or the cathode ray tube used to photoactivate the liquid-crystal light valve.
In an effort to exploit the high resolution and relatively high speed display capability of the photoactivated LCLV and to develop a more compact and rugged raster scanner, 525-line video-rate laser-addressed LCLVs were developed by John A. Trias in his U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,533,215, 4,611,245, and 4,623,219. The first of these patents uses a partially mechanically displaced scanning beam. The later two patents rely on a compact, all solid state laser raster scanner using acousto-optic components to modulate and deflect the laser beam and the high speed acousto-optic horizontal laser beam deflector employed in the laser raster scanner design operated in a conventional way. These designs conformed to an EIA RS-170 TV standard. The laser raster scanner of these designs, while highly suitable for the 525-line video-rate, could not achieve the resolution needed for greater than 1000 TV lines using the disclosed acousto-optic devices.
Thus, a continuing need exists in the state of the art for a high definition laser-addressed liquid-crystal light-valve projection display having the capability to achieve an acceptable resolution higher than 1,000 TV-lines.